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Monster Showcase

This week on Tangent Artists Tabletop, we showcase a new monster for your Fate Game: The Guardian of the Bell!

The Guardian is intended to be a boss or mini-boss for the party to face solo. The players will face it in a conflict, but it’s special rules will force the players to act in ways they wouldn’t normally.

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GUARDIAN OF THE BELL

Thousands of years ago, a forgotten tribe of mountain dwelling people built a temple. Their names and the name of the god has been forgotten, but it is clear that they consecrated the ground with a blood sacrifice of some beast.

Art courtesy of Gennifer Bone. For a full-sized version, become a patron of her Patreon. (Warning: some images NSFW).

A great time later, a group of monks tore down the paleolithic temple, and founded a temple, dedicated to a more peaceful religion. They blessed the shrine, and wrapped the perimeter with sacred writings meant to ward off attackers.

On the hundred year anniversary of the shrine’s founding, the shrine was attacked by robbers.
To the monks astonishment, the sacred temple bell arose and began attacking the bandits, driving them away; but soon the strange guardian started hunting down the monks as well. The sacrificial beast of old and the prayers of the new had, instead of counteracting each other, merged into something entirely other.

The Temple of Osha-Rin still stands on the clifftop, abandoned. No doubt the overbearing guardian is still haunting it, slaughtering any pillager or pilgrim that comes near.

Stunt / Extra – Indestructible: The Temple Guardian does not have a stress track. For all intents and purposes, it is indestructible, and players cannot use the attack action. (Note: Fight and Shoot can still be used to attempt overcome rolls and create advantages.)

Ring the Bell: The temple guardian will only disappear if the PCs can get the bell to ring five times. This can be done by making the spirit over exert itself (see below), or by besting the beast in an overcome roll (See “Shall Not Ring!” below).

Stunt – Shall Not Ring! The Guardian Beast gains a +3 to any skill/approach when defending against any overcome rolls to ring the bell. (Ex. If attempting to use Fight to ring the bell, the beast defends with a +8 before rolling; if using Athletics, it defends with +5.)

Stunt/Extra – Exerting: The beast thinks like a wild animal, and will spend its turn attacking if possible. If it cannot attack (ex. it is pinned to the floor by an obstacle,) it takes any appropriate action it needs to free itself, and then will exert itself. Whenever it exerts itself, it may take an additional action, but this causes the bell to ring. The beast will continue exerting itself until the bell has been rung a total of 5 times, or until it made an attack against a character (it doesn’t have to succeed). GM’s: As an exception, the beast will not exert itself to death in the first round.

GM Tips

Handling Indestructible – There are a few ways to let the players know that the players cannot use the indestructible action.

Warn Them – Let the players know at the beginning of the combat that the attack action won’t work. This prevents them from wasting their time. (Of course, you can offer a compel to any players for PCs that would be a little too slow to realize this).

Surprise Them – You can wait until someone attempts an attack, and tell them it doesn’t work; treat this as a compel, with the player getting a free fate point. This is less friendly, but matches the normal flow of the fight. The downside is, this will often make players upset. As a consolation, considering giving two fate points instead of one, or let the player take an extra action next turn / at the end of this turn. Also, if the player spend any fate points or special one-use stunts during the attack, make sure they get them back at the end of the turn / conflict.

Speaking of creepy stuff, Tangent Artist’s comic “Skeleton Crew” is now on Web Toon! The first issue is up, with more to follow. Read it online or on the Web Toon app!

Inspired by Paul Kießhauer‘s challenge, the Villains of Umdaar, I’m present my own submission: the Scorpotaurs!

It was inspired by one of Gennifer Bone’s Monsters of the Week. Support her patreon, you can get access to more images like the one below. https://www.patreon.com/ladyredfingers (Warning: some images NSFW).

THE SCORPOTAURS

Bioform: Bellicose Scorpion Centaurs

Motivation: I’M the strongest

Aspects: Big and Mean; Poor Jumpers; Ranged Weapons are for Weaklings

Approaches:

Forceful: Good +3

Quick: Fair +2

All others: Mediocre +0.

Stress: 2 stress each

Stunts:

Scorpion Legs: Scorpotaurs can climb up vertical surfaces with ease. They also gain +2 Quick when overcoming any climbing rolls.

Weapon: Scorpotaurs are armed with one weapon from the Umdaar weapons chart (reroll any range weapons).

SCORPOTAUR ALPHA

The alpha is the leader of the clan or the hunting party. They are the toughest fighters, but their position in society is fragile; they fact that they already pledge allegiance to an outside Master has made them weak in the eyes of their followers.

Scorpion Legs: Scorpotaurs can climb up vertical surfaces with ease. They also gain +2 Quick when overcoming any climbing rolls.

Weapon: Scorpotaurs are armed with one weapon from the Umdaar weapons chart (reroll any range weapons).

Venom Tail – The Alpha has the BIG tail. Instead of making a weapon attack, the Alpha may use Quick to make a Tail attack. If the attack is successful, the victim gains the aspect “Poisoned.” While poisoned, the character cannot use the Approach “Quick.” The venom is caustic, and will even affect non-organic bioforms! The aspect can be overcome by a healer (or, for androids, a mechanic), or will drop off at the end of the NEXT scene.